A year and a half ago, sprinter Kyle Webb was in hospital, fearing his track days might be over.
A motorcycle accident in Southampton left him with a lacerated liver and kidneys, and a punctured lung. But his superb performance at the CAC Junior Championships in Mexico last week confirmed his athletics comeback.
The 19-year-old smashed the Bermuda junior 100m record in Morelia, clocking 10.54 seconds in qualification. “I knew something was on when I was warming up,” he told the Sun, adding that a pep talk from coach Troy Douglas had filled him with belief. “He knew my race plan — he knows my race before I do!”
He then collected a bronze in the finals, running 10.55, despite tweaking his hamstring during the race.
But Webb, who is currently talking to colleges in the US about continuing his studies, believes the hamstring strain was just a sign of his new speed. “I had a little hamstring tweak in the finals, just because my body was being pushed to the next level,” he said.
“It happened about 30m-50m into the race when I was hitting the next gear. My body was just shocked that I was going that fast!”
Read more how How accident helped sprinter go even fastervia How accident helped sprinter go even faster – Bermuda Sun.